The USTUR invites you to join us as USTUR Scientific Advisory Committee member, Luiz Bertelli, discusses the radiological accident in Goiânia, Brazil during the Spring 2020 Herbert M. Parker Lecture. Dr. Bertelli is an internal dosimetrist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He has over 40 years of experience with internal dosimetry modeling and interpretation of monitoring for radiation workers, including 18 years in Brazil. The Parker Lecture Series is sponsored by the Herbert M. Parker Foundation in partnership with WSU Tri-Cities.

The USTUR’s 2019 Annual Report has been completed and is available for download. The document summarizes organization, activities, and scientific accomplishments at the USTUR from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019 (fiscal year 2019).

Tony Riddell has been appointed as an adjunct faculty member with the USTUR, he has more than thirty years’ of internal dosimetry experience and also within related areas of research such as epidemiology and radiobiology. Mr. Riddell leads the Internal Dosimetry Group at Public Health England (PHE), where he is responsible for the management and delivery of the United Kingdom’s national internal dose assessment capability and a program of research which supports this capability and the work of organisations such as the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

Having shared research interests in areas such as radionuclide metabolism, dosimetry and potential exposure risks, USTUR has collaborated with Mr. Riddell and PHE over many years. In 2018, Mr. Riddell facilitated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the USTUR and PHE’s Centre for Radiation Chemical and Environmental Hazards (CRCE) to help further this mutually beneficial relationship. Among other things, this MOU allowed PHE to share its newly developed internal dosimetry software, Taurus, with the USTUR for research purposes. The base model of Taurus is designed for operational dose assessment, but the USTUR will make use of an advanced version of the software to study the movement of actinides, such as plutonium, through the human body, and to calculate doses from intakes of those elements. The USTUR looks forward to continued collaboration with Mr. Riddell and PHE-CRCE.

The August issue of Health Physics was dedicated to a special issue on USTUR research. Presentations from the USTUR’s one-day special session of the 2019 Health Physics Society meeting were published as full length articles, along with an introduction to the special issue and a summary of the roundtable discussion. The special issue was published as one of several activities designed to commemorate 50 years of research at the USTUR.

USTUR director, Sergei Tolmachev, was re-appointed to serve as a member of the editorial board for the Japan Health Physics Society’s journal. He has been appointed for a two-year term from July 2019 through June 2021.

Last December, the USTUR signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Centre for Radiation Chemical and Environmental Hazards (CRCE), Public Health England. This partnership formalizes collaboration between the two organizations, and allows PHE to share its newly developed internal dosimetry software, Taurus, with the USTUR for research purposes. Initially, the USTUR will work with the base model, which is designed for operational dose assessment. However, PHE is also designing an advanced version of Taurus for use in research, which the USTUR will use to model individual registrant cases. This partnership was facilitated by Sergei Tolmachev (USTUR director) and Anthony Riddell (PHE-CRCE Internal Dosimetry Group leader).

USTUR Assistant Research Professor George Tabatadze was appointed as a member of the WSU Radiation Safety Committee (RSC). The RSC establishes and ensures compliance with radiation protection policies, reviews applications for and approves use of radioactive materials and radiation producing machines, and audits Radiation Safety Office records.

A Postdoctoral Research Associate position is available immediately at the USTUR. The research will focus on evaluation of uncertainties in radiation dose assessment for internally deposited radionuclides in support of radiation epidemiology. The successful candidate will also have the opportunity to work on several biokinetic modeling projects in close collaboration with operational health physicists, biostatisticians, and radiochemists.

The Centre for Environmental Radioactivity (CERAD), held a series of workshops in conjunction with its annual conference. USTUR director, Sergei Tolmachev, was invited to present at two of these workshops: Human Health Effects Following Severe Nuclear Events (February 3) and Particle Characteristics and Nuclear Forensic (February 5).